When the ancient Polynesians invented surfing, they often used a paddle to help them navigate. Fast-forward a few millennia, and Stand-Up Paddleboarding, or SUP, finds itself trendy again. Part of its increasing popularity is that standing upright allows surfers to spot waves more easily and thus catch more of them, multiplying the fun factor. Paddling back to the wave becomes less of a strain as well. The ability to cruise along on flat inland water, surveying the sights, is another advantage. Finally, its a good core workout. If youre sold on the idea, schedule an intro SUP lesson, free with board and paddle rental, and you may find yourself riding the waves like a Polynesian king.More

In the past 30 years, light artists have reimagined an art form that has always had the ability to turn the night sky, or a simple window, into luminescence. Last fall, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts turned its southern glass wall into a parade of sound-sensing lights, Lightswarm, that changes with the movements of nearby people and things. Future Cities Lab, the San Francisco design company behind Lightswarm, has originated another notable light sculpture. Located by the YBCA's steps at 701 Mission, Murmur Wall will light up in arresting ways as it incorporates local trending search engine results and social media postings. Onlookers can offer their own contributions, which will feed into the Murmur Wall's data stream and light up the sculpture. What's trending in San Francisco? If you're walking by the YBCA, you can see firsthand — at least through light patterns that reflect the city's volatile internet habits.
Murmur Wall debuts Thursday at 6 p.m. and continues through May 31, 2017, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St., S.F. Free; 415-978-2700 or ybca.org. More

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

With the help of pastry chef Luis Villavelazquez, the 60-year-old panaderia on 24th Street will soon begin modernizing its pan dulce.

In a move that could remake San Francisco's notion of pan dulce ― Mexican sweet rolls ― pastry chef Luis Villavelazquez is working with Mission panaderia La Victoria to modernize the baking program at the 60-year-old bakery and cafe.

click to enlarge

Meredith Brody

Villavelazquez at Ferry Plaza in October 2009.

Last week, Villavelazquez began doing production for Les Elements in La Victoria's commissary kitchen. This week he starts working with the La Victoria staff to improve their pan dulce techniques and introduce new, higher-quality ingredients, all, he says, without straying too far from panaderia tradition. Villavelazquez tells SFoodie he'll start shadowing the bakers' shift ― 2 a.m.-2 p.m. ― to work with 30-year La Victoria vets Raul Vasquez and Lorenzo Castro on teaching new techniques, though Villavelazquez himself plans to make fillings and more intricate items.

"The hardest part will be to show them I have the same amount of skills that they do, and at the same time I have to trust them, and they have to trust me," says Villavelazquez, who recalls going to La Victoria as a kid, nibbling on cookies and conchas.

Villavelazquez was an intern at Elizabeth Falkner's Citizen Cake, eventually working his way up to pastry sous chef. He made the leap to Orson, before taking over the pastry program at Absinthe and its sister, Arlequin Cafe. Last fall, he struck out on his own with Les Elements Patisserie, which sets up a stall at the Thursday and Saturday Ferry Plaza farmers' markets. He's also been signing up wholesale clients, including Tcho, where he's begun making pastries for its Beta Store on the Embarcadero.

On Monday, Villavelazquez plans to begin offering his first pastry in the La Victoria case, a prickly pear- and chocolate-filled profiterole. He'll introduce new items every few days or so; La Victoria's pan dulce line should start to change in about a month. Some things, like conchas, will get subtle tweaks ― vanilla-sugar topping, say. Or they'll shift to more upscale ingredients, Tcho chocolate rather than Ghirardelli, for instance.

Other items, says La Victoria's Jaime Maldonado, will see more dramatic changes. Croissants will morph from the Mexican cuerno feite, to the flakier French style ― some filled with dulce de leche ― and there'll be more tropical fruit fillings, too. "French technique, Latin technique ― it's going to be a melding of flavors and styles, a new way of looking at things," Maldonado says. Plans also call for rethinking the pastry cases, which double as La Victoria's window displays.

Modernization has long been a goal for Maldonado, who took over the business from his dad in 1992. Last year he said this to SFoodie's Jonathan Kauffman: "My next step is to bring in a pastry chef, someone with some notoriety who says, 'I see what this guy is doing, I like what he's doing.' I want to create a new product environment that doesn't alienate the Latin pastries but adds European twists to create nuevo Latino pastries."

Looks like Maldonado found what he's looking for. The question now is, will the neighborhood accept the change, including paying a bit more for pan dulce?

Maldonado's planning to hold the line on prices for most things, which currently range from $.99-$2.50 per piece. "The thing is to do it so we get younger people in the neighborhood more excited without making our regulars mad."

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Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'.
Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"